Of Peonies and Flying Shadows
by thisgirlfornow
Summary: Oneshot. Botan thinks about the strange relationship that has formed between Hiei and herself due to the events of a cold October day in the human realm. (Edited on 11/2/2012.)


Of Peonies and Flying Shadows

By: ThisGirlForNow

Botan was beginning to feel nervous; she could feel his stare on the back of her head. She shivered, wondering what she had done this time to catch his unrelenting attention. Perhaps she did not truly want to know as Hiei was easy to anger in any given circumstance.

So instead of turning around, she kept her eyes forward watching Yusuke and Keiko get into another one of their spats and letting her mind wander. Yusuke just had to go and say one of his usual perverted comments which resulted with an angry Keiko and a slap in the face: True love at its finest.

Shizuru and Kurama had gone off to God knows where, unnoticed by the others, walking off in the midst of some sort of deep conversation that only the two of them could understand, not that Botan had made any sort of attempt. She was just glad to see them together and happy; Botan could not help but feel that they were meant to be.

That left Kuwabara and Yukina who were to off to the side stuck in yet another awkward moment of Kuwabara-brand "romance" that Yukina had yet to fully understand, much to his chagrin. She always smiled around him though, no matter what sort of nonsense he spoke to her. It seemed that it would take a while longer before the ice maiden would really open up her heart and understand that he wanted a relationship on a higher level than friendship, but Botan knew that it would only be a matter of time.

_ She is a lot like her brother in that way; she's completely walled in and confused. I doubt Hiei fully knows what romantic love is either. I doubt he would ever want to learn. _Botan thought sadly. She shook her head in an attempt to remove all thoughts of him, but it seemed to be an impossible feat. Things were changing between them and taking a turn toward the bizarre and confusing.

It had all started with a chilly October day.

**Flashback**

It was just another normal afternoon as Botan was flying around the Human World. Or perhaps not so normal as she had just finished ferrying the last lost soul on her list to Spirit World earlier than usual, resulting in some much-needed down time.

_I wonder what I should do for the rest of my day?_ She wondered. There were quite a few possibilities roaming around in her head but she settled on visiting Yukina and Genkai at the temple as it had been a while since she had last seen them.

She wondered what they had been up to over the past couple of months. There weren't a lot of changes in her life, just the usual business that came with ferrying the dead. Hopefully, their lives had been more exciting than that!

Botan's thoughts began to wander, as she flew over the large forest surrounding Genkai's temple. But due to her lack of attention, she failed to notice the large gust of wind that was heading in her direction. So, stuck in her state of obliviousness, Botan unwittingly flew into the current causing her to lose control of her trusty oar and leaving her to fall into the forest below.

She screamed as she fell, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing herself for a harsh landing on the forest floor. She hoped that the injuries she was sure to receive would be mild and easily treatable in the least.

However, the hard landing never came. She opened her eyes and looked up at an obscured but easily-recognizable face.

"Hiei?" Botan questioned. She couldn't imagine why he would be out in the woods at this time of day or why he would have even bothered to catch her; surely, he would have received more amusement out of watching her fall in a broken heap at his feet.

"Hn. Moron. Didn't those idiots in Spirit World teach you anything about flying?" He asked in a condescending tone. "Or, perhaps you were too stupid for it to fully sink in." Then, noticing that she was still within his arms, he promptly dropped her, much to her annoyance.

"That wasn't very nice, Hiei!" Botan chastised. "Why did you even bother catching me anyway? Just so you could insult me? Well I think that you-"

"Hn. Fool." Hiei interrupted. "I caught you because I'd rather not hear Koenma's bitching after he found out that his precious ferry girl was lying dead in my training grounds. Unlike you, I'm no idiot; I'm still serving my sentence, and I'd rather not extend it because of someone as worthless as you."

"Well, thank you anyway." Botan said, "Even though you very mean about it, I'm glad that you saved me. So thank you, Hiei." She looked up at him, giving him one of her sweetest smiles.

"Whatever." He grumbled. "Just be more careful, woman. I might just look away next time and save myself the trouble." He then walked away and began another round of his intense training.

After a moment of staring, Botan finally removed herself from the ground and swatted away all of the dirt and fallen pine needles that had stuck to her person. She then looked around the forested area for her fallen oar only to find that it was nowhere in sight.

"Hiei!" She called out, "Have you seen my oar anywhere? It must have fallen somewhere around here!"

Hiei sighed. Leave it to the woman to interrupt his training twice in the span of five minutes. She was really starting to piss him off.

"It's not my problem, woman. Go find it yourself. I'm sick of babysitting you." He snapped.

"Well, you didn't have to be so rude about it!" Botan yelled. She then walked off in a random direction, hoping that it would lead her to her missing oar.

_He didn't have to be such a jerk. _She thought. _What did I ever do to him?_ She shrugged it off and continued her search. However, she began to lose concentration a couple minutes in due to the chilly October wind and her lack of warm clothing. _ I'll just have to suck it up! The sooner I find my oar, the sooner I can get to Genkai's!_ With that thought, her determination increased.

Forty minutes and many different directions later, Botan was still left oar-less and her slight chill had increased leaving her with a slight shiver.

"Grr!" She exclaimed, "Why didn't my oar come with some sort of Spirit World tracking device! That would certainly make this whole ordeal much easier!" She stomped on for a couple more minutes before she found something promising on the forest floor. However, her journey was not about to become easier. As she neared the strange object, she found that it was indeed her oar; the only problem was that it was quite broken and in no condition to fly.

"Oh! Lord Koenma's going to kill me!" She cried whilst cradling the pieces of her once trusty piece of flying equipment. She righted herself once more and banished the remains of her oar.

Botan then looked around but found that she was hopelessly lost in the middle of the forest; even worse, the sun was beginning to set. _Just great!_ She thought. _How am I going to get out of here now!?_ She turned around with the hope that her old trail would bring her closer to the old temple.

A little while later, the wind was growing colder as the sun faded into a beautiful shade of purple. She rubbed her hands together as she walked on in hopes that she would regain some sort of feeling, but it didn't seem to be working. Tired and cold, she slumped down to the ground crying tears of frustration.

"I give up." She solemnly said, curling her arms around the tops of her knees.

"Hn. Stupid woman. If you are the sort of weakling who gives up so easily, perhaps you deserve to freeze in these woods." She heard a voice say from the trees. _Wait! I recognize that voice!_ She thought.

"Hiei! Boy am I glad to see you!" Botan exclaimed as she stood up. "Please, can you help me get to the temple? My oar is broken and I have absolutely no clue where I am!" She walked up to his tree and looked up hopefully.

"Why should I help you, ferry girl?" He asked, gracefully landing a few feet in front of her with his mouth twisted into his trademark smirk. "Find your own way out."

"Please, Hiei! I'll give you anything you want! Just get me out of here!" Botan pleaded. He took a few moments to consider her pleas, causing her to become quite anxious in waiting for his reply.

"Hn. Fine." He said, "I'll help you if you can manage to shut up. You're screeching is giving me a headache." He added with a self-righteous smirk. Botan looked at him with an offended expression.

"You don't have to be so mean about it, you know!" Botan yelled, her anger climbing steadily.

"I could just leave you here." He threatened and she fell silent.

"Finally. Took you long enough." He said as he began walking in peace. "Try to keep up, idiot."

Botan did her best to trail him silently through the woods through the twists, low-hanging branches, and annoyingly stealthy tree roots. However, even Hiei's brisk pace was doing little to quell her discomfort; her shaking had returned with a vengeance along with the new addition of chattering teeth. She did her best to distract herself by thinking warm thoughts about steamy saunas, deserts, and warm electric blankets.

She nearly ran into Hiei, being too lost in her reveries to notice that he had stopped walking. She was further surprised as his long, black cloak was thrown at her head. Hiei turned to face her for the first time since they began their walk. She stared at him blankly, wondering what his intentions were.

"Don't think of this as an act of kindness, woman. The noises you're making now are far more annoying than your voice, if that's even possible." He said with a glare.

"Thank you." Botan said not even bothering to be angry as she pulled his cloak over her shoulders reveling in the warmth of the fabric. She looked over at him once more as he marched on once more at his hurried pace.

"I haven't got all day, idiot. Move." He ordered. She yelped and stumbled on so he would not leave her behind.

A little less than twenty minutes later, the two unlikely companions had made it out of the forest. Botan smiled at the sight of Genkai's temple in the distance. She hoped that someone would be awake as it looked to be quite late according to the blackened sky.

"Thank you for the help, Hiei!" She said with a sincere smile. "I promise not to bother you anymore!"

"Hn." He grunted seconds before he disappeared into the night.

Botan made her way up to the temple steps and began to climb her way up toward the front doors when she was semi-blinded by a surprising amount of yellow light. Genkai stood by the entrance with a stern look on her face. A blanket-bearing Yukina was at her side.

"Botan!" Yukina cried hurriedly throwing the blanket off to the side and making her way down the stairs. She nearly crushed Botan with an affectionate hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay! We were so worried when Koenma called us!"

"Koenma?" Botan asked. "If he wanted to reach me he could have called me on my mirror!" She searched through her pockets only to find that she could not locate the compact device. She then noticed that she was still wearing Hiei's coat. Realizing her mistake, she began picking through her the sleeves on her kimono, but to no avail. The mirror must have gotten lost when she fell.

"Oopsie!" She exclaimed. "It must be in the forest somewhere!" She laughed nervously. _Lord Koenma will be absolutely livid when he finds out!_ She thought.

"Well, don't just stand there like a dimwit, come inside!" Genkai ordered roughly. She held the door long enough for Botan and Yukina to enter before letting it slam shut.

"Yukina, would you mind showing Botan to her room?" Genkai asked. "I'm going to call Koenma. Hopefully, he hasn't deployed the Spirit World Special Defense Force yet." She joked with a wry smile.

Yukina gave her a smile. "I'd love to." She said.

The two walked along the hallway until they had reached the designated room. Yukina opened the door revealing a tiny room with a small bed near the window. She then walked up to the bed, smoothed down the comforter, and placed the extra blanket at the foot of the bed before turning to her guest.

"Botan?" Yukina questioned. "Is that Mister Hiei's coat you're wearing?"

Botan laughed nervously knowing that Hiei wouldn't want people to know that he was the one who had helped her out of her predicament.

"Of course not!" Botan said with a fake chuckle. "I've had this old thing for years!" She lied.

"I guess I was mistaken then." Yukina said in reply. "It doesn't seem to fit your frame very well though. Perhaps you should get a new one that fits." She suggested. Botan looked down for the first time since donning the garment. It definitely did not work with her womanly figure, making her feel a little box-like. It was also a little too short for her height, but that was to be expected due to the height difference between herself and Hiei.

"Maybe I will." Botan said with a laugh as she headed toward the washroom to freshen up.

"Please feel free to take your time." Yukina said. "I'll go and start some tea."

"Thank you, Yukina." Botan said. She heard the ice maiden start to leave, the sound of her feet against the wooden floor diminishing over the span of a couple of seconds.

Botan sighed. Her time off had definitely not gone as planned and she was definitely not excited at the possibility of going back into that creepy forest so soon after she had escaped from it. But she also didn't want to give Koenma even more of a reason to be angry with her.

After weighing the odds, she decided that it would be best to track down her mirror at the first possible chance. She walked across the room and fell onto the bed. _Some things are best left for tomorrow_. She thought as she began to fall asleep, curling up in the warmth of Hiei's cloak.

Botan awoke the next morning feeling rejuvenated and ready to go. She quickly showered and dressed before thanking her gracious hosts and leaving to find her lost communication mirror. However, once she reached the forest, Botan found that she was in the same position as she was the night before: She still had no idea where to go without getting lost.

Not being one to lose her optimistic spirit over such a thing, Botan made her way into the forest nonetheless whist buttoning Hiei's cloak in order to avoid the cold. She kept a sharp eye on the pine needle covered floor, grateful for the morning's light that would make her endeavor much easier this time around. She walked slowly onward for a couple of minutes until she heard a strange sound coming from a distance. Deciding to settle her curiosity while continuing her search, she began to head toward the noise.

She ended up in an extremely small clearing. A feeling of déjà-vu hit her as she looked about but she quickly shrugged it off. That is, until she felt a blade at her throat and a hand over her mouth.

Botan whimpered while trying to fight her natural urge to try to fight against her attacker; the blade was too close to even think about making such a stupid movement.

"What are you doing here, idiot? I didn't help you out of here last night so you could go and get yourself lost again." Hiei's voice sounded harshly in her left ear. He let the hand he had placed over her mouth drop to her shoulder, holding her with a firm grip.

"Let me go, you inconsiderate jerk, or, so help me, I'll beat you with my bat!" Botan yelled, still resisting the urge to squirm about.

"Hn." He let out a malevolent chuckle. "How are you going to hit me when I have you trapped, ferry girl?" He tightened his grip and moved the cool sword slightly to further solidify his point.

Botan hesitated. He had her firmly under his control; though she could never a chance against him, even if he was not holding a sword to her neck. Hiei was more powerful than her, a point that she knew he loved to shove in her face.

"Please, just let me go. I only need to find my mirror and I'll be on my way. The sooner you let me go, the sooner I can leave." She argued, silently praying that his need to be alone would overshadow his blood lust.

Botan was relieved when she heard Hiei sheathe his menacing katana. He removed his hand from her person and reached for something within his pockets. With a leer, he revealed to Botan her once functional communication mirror.

"What on Earth happened to it?" She asked. Springs and wires were popping out everywhere and the once whole unit was split into even halves.

"It annoyed me, so I destroyed it." He said in a nonchalant tone. "I knew you'd be back for it." He gave her a wicked smile as he threw the broken mirror at her feet.

"I can't believe you! That wasn't mine you know!" Botan yelled. "That was Spirit World property and you intentionally destroyed it, you insufferable jerk!"

"Like I care." Hiei said while leaning against a sturdy tree. "Now give me back my cloak and leave."

Botan was furious. Not only had he scared her earlier by pulling his weapon on her, but he had destroyed the item that she was trying so hard to recover. With her once-rational mind clouded by anger, she did something that surprised herself even more than Hiei: She tackled him to the ground.

Her little victory didn't last very long. Less than a second after she did it, he had flipped them over and pinned her to the ground, sending her a menacing glare. She squirmed around, trying to free herself from his vice-like grip and failing miserably.

"Are you scared now, woman?" Hiei asked in an extremely dark tone. "Because you should be."

Still extremely pissed off, the ferry girl (figuratively) stood her ground with a defiant look on her face. She refused to give up because of their power difference.

"You have some fire in your eyes." He stated with a wide smirk. "It's much better than that dull look they normally have. How amusing."

Instead of saying something as she normally would, she remained silent and continued to stare at the fire demon as if her glare would be what would free her from his hold. Hiei internally chuckled at her refusal to give up. Who would have guessed that the blue-haired ferry girl would have such a fighting spirit? He began to feel some newfound respect for the girl.

The two continued to stare at each other in silence; neither opponent was willing to back down and concede. But something in the air changed. In a moment of strangeness, after what seemed like a small fragment of eternity, his lips found a mind of their own and ended their duel when they crashed down upon hers in a rough kiss.

Botan was in a state of complete shock. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that this would happen. Hiei and herself? Kissing? It was just too bizarre to be real. He hated her because he felt she was annoying and useless, and she could barely stand to be within a fifty foot radius of him at times due to his horrible demeanor.

Her thoughts began to change. Here she was on the receiving end of her first kiss with the last person she ever thought she would share one with, and she was enjoying every moment of it.

Their kiss had changed pace, slowing down yet losing none of its passion. Instead of being rough, as she had imagined they would be, his lips were surprisingly soft and warm. She was further shocked as he added more pressure to the kiss, moving his lips around hers in the most amazing way. Her brain felt like it was at its melting point. And just when she thought it couldn't get any better, she felt his arms slip around her small waist, pulling her body even closer to his.

However, the moment could not last forever. Their kiss was broken unexpectedly as Hiei jumped off of her as if he had been burned by her touch. She was left in a state of wonder on the forest floor. He looked at her for a second more with a strange look in his eyes before he disappeared into the trees, leaving Botan to wonder if the kiss ever occurred at all.

**End of Flashback**

So there she was three weeks later and still just as confused as she was when the event occurred. That had been her first kiss, something Botan held quite dear, and yet she almost mourned wasting it on someone as uncaring as Hiei. Almost.

She sighed, wondering if that kiss had meant anything to the fire demon at all. While her rational side gave her a resounding no, a small part of her held on to the hope that he did care, if only a little. After all, he did start the whole thing.

With that thought, Botan stood up and began to walk into the forest that she had begged to escape from just a couple weeks earlier. When she was about ten feet away she heard Yusuke calling out to her.

"Hey! Botan! Where do you think you're going?" He asked. She gave him a bright smile in return, hoping he wouldn't see the flaws in her façade.

"Oh, I just figured I'd go on a little stroll." She said casually, "It's such a nice day out, after all, and a walk in the woods sounds like a perfectly good thing to do!"

"Botan, please be careful!" Yukina pleaded, "You never know what sort of things could be hiding in the forest. Perhaps you should take someone with you? Just to be safe."

"Oh, no!" Botan replied, "I should be just fine. Besides, I do have my trusty bat with me!" She said, pulling the aforementioned object out of thin air and swinging it about. She waved and began walking once more.

"Wait." She heard a voice call out, "Who knows what kind of trouble that idiot could get herself into? I'll go." Just as she had heard Hiei's voice stop, she felt the air next to her being displaced announcing the arrival of the speaker. The two shared a meaningful look and continued on into the forest just as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Well, that was weird." Kuwabara said whilst scratching his head, "I wonder what got into those two?"

"Three words: Unresolved sexual tension." Yusuke offered earning him another glare from Keiko.

And with that strange beginning, a new romance was in bloom. Botan didn't need to know all of the answers yet. But she was sure that she would get them in time, and she had plenty of it to spare.

_Fin._

A/N (11/2/2012): I hope you enjoyed the first revision of my first fanfic. I must say, I do like this version much more than the first. If you have any questions/comments/criticisms/whatever, feel free to let me know!


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